Sacrifice of Giving Thanks

Psalm 50:23---"Giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors Me. If you keep to My path, I will reveal to you the salvation of God."

God continues to amaze me as I think about how He guides. In this psalm, people are offering all kinds of costly sacrifices in hopes of pleasing and honoring God, and He speaks up with what truly honors Him. Giving thanks.

This just doesn't compute in my mind. I think it should cost everything to honor God. That it should really hurt. Sometimes it does, but more often, it is very simple.

Why does He call giving thanks a sacrifice? I'm not sure, but if we tie it together to Paul's counsel to give thanks in everything, I can make some connection. You see, if I sacrifice what I am feeling sorry for myself in through giving thanks instead of grumbling, worrying, complaining and fretting, I make space in my heart and mind to see and hear God. That honors Him and it brings me salvation. I am saved from my dark self!

I urge you to try it. All day today, when tempted to fret and worry, give thanks. Lay down the comfortable spot you naturally go to, and give thanks.

Look back at something difficult and give thanks. Lay down your 'right' to be angry, hurt, even vengeful...and give thanks. Look ahead to what's daunting, and give thanks. He is already there! This puts us on His path of salvation, rather than our natural path to destruction.

How will you know? His fruit will become self evident. These are the seeds you sow. Seeds sown through giving thanks. Fruit born through His spirit watered by our thanks...

Peace will replace fear

Love will replace vengeance

Joy will replace anxiety

Patience will replace anger

Kindness will replace slander

Goodness will replace selfishness

Self control will replace indulgence

Life will replace death.

This is the path of salvation. Do you need to be saved today? Give thanks.

Does He really care?

I was actually excited to see that my reading guide was taking me to Psalm 37 today. The Lord knew what I needed to hear (He's sweet that way!). Do you ever wonder if He really cares about every detail of your life? I used to be such a cynic when people would pray over the littlest things (like parking places...ok, I still struggle with that one) But, the Lord has shown me many times recently that He does care about the little things and the big things that want to quench joy in my daily life.

What does it mean to live a hidden life in Christ? All those common, yet unexperienced, phrases are dancing around a lot in my thoughts now, and hopefully they are finding sure footing in my experience. The phrase: "beyond my comprehension but not my experience" has become a thread of prayer in my abiding life in Christ. I cannot comprehend how He orchestrates all of our lives at once. I cannot comprehend how or why He hears my every thought and knows how many hairs are on my gray head. Such intimacy!

May these expressions of trust penned by David encourage you today, as they do me. However, I want more than encouragement. I want these words to be my life experience today:

I jump around a bit as my attention was drawn to different verses:

Be still in the presence of the Lord and wait for Him to act.

Take delight in the Lord and He will give you your heart's desires.

Put your hope in the Lord. Travel steadily on His path. He will honor You by giving you the land.

The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives.

Abba, I get so focused on and worried about details and how to lay out the path---but You are the producer---not me. Help me to be still in Your Presence all day long and to walk steadily on Your path. This way of following/dwelling/abiding///fills me with peace.

You're inviting me to wait and watch---to be obedient and faithful to Your lead in even the smallest turns (phone calls, emails, thoughts, plans, words, spending etc...)

and to delight-take joy-in my knowledge of You. To walk by faith centered in the truth that You do care about every detail of my life; 'beyond my comprehension, but not my experience.' Lord, I want to live there with You.

Truth Telling: random

One of my family members is known for candidly speaking the truth, which most of the time is delightful. We've had lots of discussion on the topic of when critical truth telling is necessary. Not that it's ever okay to lie, but are there times when speaking the truth is more harmful than helpful? Obviously, yes. But that doesn't mean truth telling that wounds isn't at times the right way to follow Jesus. He was the master at it. We need to carefully follow Him if we are to speak truth to our friends and loved ones in the same manner as our Master.

I recently read this acronym (which I know can be cheezy, so forgive me) that I find helpful...especially when I'm trying to follow Jesus in responding to those closest to me where I can get careless. Phil Calloway gives this acronym for truth telling:

THINK...

Is it True? Is it Helpful? Does it Inspire? Is it Necessary? Am I Kind about it?

I think that's helpful. And, that's the truth.

Vulnerability

Steve keeps asking me if I've posted anything on here lately...so I promised I would. It's crazy how insecure I get around this challenge. SO, I thought that may be a good place to begin. Let me ask you...is there something you 'feel led' to do that scares you to death? Something that may expose a part of you that others haven't seen? A vulnerable place? What's it going to take to get you to take that next step?

I found a journal entry this morning written on a pad

of paper on a day when I couldn't find my real journal (no date). It was about the woman at the well from John 4:39-42.

This was her testimony,

"He told me everything I ever did." (how vulnerable must she have felt?)

The people in her village heard the message and believed. And then...

They heard Him themselves and believed in the Messiah.

What a great story! This is OUR story! We hear about Jesus and then we hear Him ourselves. If we listen well, He will tell us everything we need to know about ourselves and then that exposure becomes a light for others to see Him.

"Lord, this woman must've had a terrible reputation in the village. A woman, first of all, would have no voice--and an adulterous woman would be scorned and rejected; but here she is...and many believed in You because of her story. Her testimony about hearing from You. She was transformed!

She became, through knowing You and realizing she is known by You---a woman of passion with a story to share. The story didn't center around her sin, but around You. Her experience of You gave others a thirst to hear from You themselves...so they came to You. She became so filled up with your living water that the vulnerable vessel held no more power over her.

You stayed for two days! You were actively available to those who wanted to hear. You harvested the prepared field. You weren't in a hurry to get to a more significant, important place or meeting (how often I feel like I am a disruption to people and make people feel the same!)

These were ordinary village people with ordinary, daily lives. That day, they became true worshippers. In spirit and in truth. She became light and it spread.

Thank you Jesus for WHO You are. I love the fact that You are no respecter of persons---You show no favoritism. Every soul is Your beloved creation in whom You long to live and become a fresh, bubbling spring filling us with eternal life which will easily spill over to others in our village. You're inviting me to live intimately with You. Listening for Your voice in all tender areas of my heart. You want me to tell others what You have to say...how You long to love them."

What's your story? Do you feel like you have nothing to say? Don't depend on your salvation testimony. Jesus wants to bubble new springs from you to offer the weary around you. Do you need to sit down and listen to Him for yourself? You put yourself in position to be filled by Him, and He will do the rest...and you will be overcome with joy.

Turn off the computer, the phone, the t.v.; close the book, tell the kids you are on time out for 20 minutes. Sit down, take a deep breath, and check the status of your spring. Is it dry? Open your Bible to John 4:10...

Now, listen to Jesus say to you..."If you only knew the gift God has for you and who you are speaking to, you would ask Me, and I would give you living water."